SB 535: Mental Health; the re-creation of community service boards; provide

Georgia's community service boards deliver mental health, developmental disabilities, and addictive disease services through boards appointed by county governments. Current law was last updated to re-create these boards in 2014, and this bill re-creates them again as of July 1, 2026, while restructuring how they are run. The biggest change is to the executive director position. Instead of being hired and set by each local governing board, executive directors would generally be appointed and removable by the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and become state employees, though people already serving as executive directors get a choice by August 1, 2026 to stay employed by their local board under a three-way contract. The bill spells out new day-to-day powers for executive directors (hiring, firing, contracts, clinical policy) and lets governing boards delegate other duties to them. It also adds commissioner approval as a new requirement when a board wants to convert into a nonprofit, a county agency, or part of a hospital authority, and it drops the requirement that community service board teleconference meetings have half the board physically present in one place.

• Re-creates all community service boards effective July 1, 2026, and reconstitutes their governing boards, continuing existing contracts and obligations.
• Makes the executive director a required member of each governing board and generally has that person appointed and removable by the DBHDD commissioner rather than hired locally.
• Lets current executive directors choose by August 1, 2026 to remain community service board employees under a three-party contract instead of becoming state employees.
• Grants executive directors new specific powers, including hiring and firing staff, terminating contracts, and setting operational and clinical policy for the board.
• Adds a requirement that the commissioner approve any decision by a community service board to convert into a nonprofit, a county government unit, or part of a hospital authority.
• Removes the requirement that at least half of a community service board's members be physically present in the same room during a teleconference meeting.

Community service boards and their governing board members, current and future executive directors of those boards, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and its commissioner, county governments that appoint board members, and the people who receive mental health, developmental disability, and addictive disease services from these boards.

Day-to-day control of local mental health and disability service agencies would shift from locally appointed boards toward the state agency that appoints and can remove executive directors. Georgians who rely on these services could see changes in how their local board operates, is staffed, and is held accountable, and county officials would have less say over who runs them.

• Section 1 and 2 update definitions in O.C.G.A. §§ 37-1-1 and 37-2-2, including a new definition of 'executive director' tied to the revised Code Section 37-2-6.1.
• Section 3 re-creates community service boards effective July 1, 2026, adds the executive director as a governing board member, and requires the department to issue unified bylaws by December 31, 2026.
• Section 4 rewrites Code Section 37-2-6.1 so that, starting July 1, 2026, the commissioner appoints and can remove executive directors, who become department employees unless they elect by August 1, 2026 to stay with the board under a three-party contract.
• Section 4 also gives executive directors authority to recruit, hire, discipline, and fire staff, terminate contracts, and set operational and clinical policy, and requires executive director approval before a board can borrow money or sign most contracts.
• Section 5 requires commissioner approval, in addition to existing board and county approvals, before a community service board can convert to a nonprofit, county unit, or hospital authority component (O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.4).
• Section 6 requires Governor approval, alongside the governing board and county governing authorities, before a community service board can cease operations (O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.5).
• Section 8 amends the state's open meetings law (O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1) to drop the requirement that half of a community service board's members be physically present for teleconference meetings.

1. 2026-05-05Effective Date 2026-07-01
2. 2026-05-05Act 412
3. 2026-05-05Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2026-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2026-03-16House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2026-03-16House Third Readers (House)
7. 2026-03-12House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2026-03-04House Second Readers (House)

• Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-032)Primary sponsor
• Sharon Cooper (R, HD-045)

1. PassedSenate voteFebruary 26, 2026

   45 yea, 2 nay (1 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #597

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 16, 2026

   130 yea, 31 nay (5 not voting, 10 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #710

• mental health services
• community service boards
• disability services
• behavioral health department
• local government boards